James L. Wheeler was born in Los Angeles, California, in February 1926. His father was a dairy man, and his mother was a teacher. The family lived in San Gabriel [Annotator's Note: San Gabriel, California]. Wheeler attended high school and played several sports. After the attack at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], the nation changed. There were gasoline rations, people grew vegetables in their gardens, and everyone was conscious of the war. Everyone was proud of the men that went into the military. After Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Battle of Guadalcanal, 7 August 1942 through 9 February 1943], the Americans worked through the Marshall and Gilbert Islands [Annotator's Note: Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign November 1943 through February 1944]. The war changed during the fight for the Mariana Islands [Annotator's Note: Mariana Islands Campaign June through August 1944]. By then, there were two major naval battles at the Coral Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Coral Sea, 4 to 8 May 1942] and Midway [Annotator's Note: Battle of Midway 4 to 7 June 1942]. The Japanese Navy was sunk, and the American war production was in full swing. Wheeler was a senior in high school. He wanted to serve. He enlisted in the Marine Corps at 17 years of age. All of the football players joined as well. Wheeler had to get his parents' permission. He went to boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California], then to Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, San Diego County, California], then to Hawaii. He was in the artillery and served in the corps artillery as a part of the 5th Amphibious Corps. The artillery was not a part of any division, but served the whole corps. Around 1 January 1945, he boarded a troopship for an invasion. Wheeler thought he was going to Taiwan because that is where MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] wanted to go. MacArthur went through the south Pacific towards the Philippines, but Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] wanted to go through the middle of the Pacific. Wheeler served with Nimitz. He did not know where he was going, but he stopped in Oahu [Annotator's Note: Oahu, Hawaii] to pick up the 4th Marine Division. Wheeler was in a LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank], which was a slow-moving ship. It took a month to get to Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February 1945 through 26 March 1945]. He was told about his objective halfway to the island. The Marines had to capture it because LeMay [Annotator's Note: Curtis Emerson LeMay; US Army Air Forces then US Air Force General; Fifth Chief of Staff of the US Air Force] needed its air base for his B-29s bombers [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber]. The air base caused trouble for the bombers. The planes needed a place to land after bombing Japan, so the island would serve as an emergency landing zone.

After picking up the 3rd Division [Annotator's Note: 3rd Marine Division], the Marines landed on the island [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. James L. Wheeler landed on the second day. It was difficult getting ashore because of all the wreckage. It was hard to guide the LST [Annotator's Note: Landing Ship, Tank] onto the beach. The beach was full of various vehicles. Wheeler's ship had Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions] on it, and they made it easier to for the Marines to get onto land. Using bulldozers, the Marines got their 155mm howitzers [Annotator's Note: M114 155mm howitzer] off the beach. There were wounded men all over the beach waiting to get onto a hospital ship. Artillery fire was sporadic and random. It was difficult to dig a foxhole in the sand. It took some time to get the gun into position. Wheeler served as a forward observer. He was a part of a team that followed the Marines up Mount Suribachi. The 28th Marines [Annotator's Note: 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] were sent up the mountain and planted the flag on the top. A leatherneck [Annotator's Note: nickname for a Marine] photographer was there to take pictures. When the flag went up, all the ships blew their horns and the Marines high fived. They thought they would be able to go home. The offensive was supposed to last ten days. The Japanese were hidden under ground. Wheeler made it to the top of the mountain about the time the second flag went up [Annotator's Note: on 23 February 1943]. That flag made it into American military history. The picture was put into the newspapers and it impressed President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States]. He ordered the men that raised the flag home, but by the time the order arrived, some of the men had died. Wheeler's job was to report when he saw Japanese artillery and mortar fire. Sometimes, Wheeler thought an artillery spot was destroyed, but it would fire again later. He found out the Japanese would wheel their artillery pieces in and out of caves. He never forgot seeing the dead being buried below him. The Japanese were in 13 miles of underground tunnels. He could see flamethrowers [Annotator's Note: ranged incendiary device that projects a controllable jet of fire] and demolition men fighting around caves. The Japanese were like phantoms. That kind of fighting went on day after day. At night, it would get cold on top of the mountain. He had plenty of C-rations [Annotator's Note: prepared and canned wet combat food]. Before logistics could catch up, Wheeler would have to collect water with his helmet. When the Marines got past Airfield One [Annotator's Note: Airfield Number 1; also known as Motoyama No. 1], they started getting bogged down. Many Medals of Honor [Annotator's Note: the Medal of Honor is the highest award a United States service member can receive who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor] were awarded for actions during this time period. Wheeler was told to stay on the mountain to watch for Japanese counterattacks. On 17 March, Nimitz [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Sr., Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet] declared the battle won. The Marines fought for another ten days. When the men got back to the beach, they were shocked to see how many people were left of their units. When Erskine [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps General Graves E. Erskine] dedicated the 3rd Division [Annotator's Note: 3rd Marine Division] cemetery, he said he thought the last Marine would kill the last Japanese soldier. Wheeler boarded his ship, he smelled like sulfur and was in the same clothes he left his ship in. He was told not to eat or drink anything on the island. There were lines for food and showers. He was only a teenager during that battle.

James L. Wheeler was sent to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Northern Mariana Islands] to train for the Battle of Japan. He was getting ready when he saw an article detailing where he would be landing on Kyushu [Annotator's Note: Kyushu, Japan]. Some months later would be another invasion near Tokyo [Annotator's Note: Tokyo, Japan]. Wheeler thinks if the bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945] had not been dropped, he would not have survived. He was discharged and attended Loyola University [Annotator's Note: Loyola Marymount University] in Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California] using the G.I. Bill, which was the best thing to happen to the country. Wheeler got a job with the CIA [Annotator's Note: Central Intelligence Agency] and remained there for 30 years. He believes the education of that generation helped the country become the superpower. Wheeler did not talk about his experiences until later in life. He likes to think he helps his community by speaking. By the time Wheeler graduated [Annotator's Note: from high school], most of the boys in his class had enlisted in the Navy and Marine Corps. He did not want to be drafted into the Army. Wheeler did not regret enlisting. When he got to boot camp, he realized the Marine Corps would make him a man. He was surprised by how quickly people changed in boot camp. Wheeler was trained well. He was a replacement until he got to Hawaii. The unit he joined [Annotator's Note: 13th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] had fought on Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands], Kwajalein [Annotator's Note: Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands], Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands], and Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Northern Mariana Islands]. Most of the men had malaria [Annotator's Note: mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite]. As an observer [Annotator's Note: forward observer for artillery], Wheeler would have to use math to figure out the distance to the target. He never wanted to accidentally cause friendly fire. The first few shells were always fired over the enemy then slowly walked back. His designation was fire control man and he was also trained as an artillery crewman. Wheeler had not heard of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan] when he was told he was going there. He was given a map of the island and started figuring out distances. He thought he was going to Taiwan because he heard officers talking about MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] wanting to go there. Iwo Jima was tough because it was considered part of the Japanese homeland, which is why the Japanese defended it so strongly. Wheeler still remembers the bodies. He dreams about the smell of burning bodies. Wheeler is always amazed by pictures of the Higgins Boats [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] preparing for their landings. The beach was filled with the landing craft. The Marines wanted ten days of naval bombardment before the attack started. The Navy only fired for three days. Wheeler did not think he would be able to make it ashore because of all the vehicles on the beach. Cranes were used to help clear the beach. The battle had one of the largest convoys in the war.

James L. Wheeler spoke to a high school class and there was a person of Japanese descent in it. He asked what Wheeler felt about the Japanese troops on Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. Wheeler thought about all the American lives lost during the battle. The casualties were unbelievable. Over 2,000 B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] landed on the island after the battle ended. It saved many airmen, which Wheeler felt justified the battle. He heard that General LeMay [Annotator's Note: Curtis Emerson LeMay; US Army Air Forces then US Air Force General; Fifth Chief of Staff of the US Air Force] said capturing the island helped change how the bombing campaign against Japan was worked. They started doing firebombing against Japanese cities, which killed more people than the atomic bombings [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945]. Wheeler believes LeMay was right to say Iwo Jima factored into the results of the firebombing. When Wheeler attends the ceremonies at Arlington [Annotator's Note: Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia], he gets goosebumps seeing the statue of the flag raising [Annotator's Note: United States flag raised on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Japan, 23 February 1943], which he saw in person. He was able to visit Iwo Jima after the war when he was in the CIA [Annotator's Note: Central Intelligence Agency]. In 1952, he was stationed on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] and he was able to get a ride to Iwo Jima. He drove a jeep around for a few hours. He did not go to the top of Mount Suribachi. He does not love the island. The first B-29 that landed on the island flew right over Wheeler. He had never seen such large plane. The airmen kissed the island after they landed. Wheeler thinks the men killed were the real heroes. Many of the 5th Division [Annotator's Note: 5th Marine Division] were teenage recruits. Wheeler believes it is important for institutes like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana] to exist. He believes The museum will be around for a long time. He also thinks military television channels and monuments help keep the history alive. He wants people to understand the sacrifices people made during the war.